Anti-vaxx propaganda has gone viral on Facebook. Pinterest has a cure
“We are doing our best to remove bad content, but we know that there is bad content that we haven't gotten to yet,” explained Ifeoma Ozoma, a public policy and social impact manager at Pinterest. “We don't want to surface that with search terms like ‘cancer cure' or ‘suicide'. We're hoping that we can move from breaking the site to surfacing only good content. Until then, this is preferable.”
Having previously run a forum and various projects, hosting only what you deem to be acceptable is hard. I really do get it, but here we have one social network choosing to deny information to it's users for their own protection and another where anything goes. Both in and out it seems.
The Guardian's headline includes 'Pinterest has a cure'... would be interested to know how this impacted engagement. If anything, the rise of factual content and demise of anti-vaxxers should be welcomed by all.
Posted 25th Feb 2019 @ 21:13
Clare Color Genius
A 'bot' that helps you pick colours for your room based on a number of factors including your own tastes, existing furniture and the position of the Sun that gives you the most light.
Posted 25th Feb 2019 @ 18:13
The Huawei Mate X
Now this is more like it, open and closed the screens look usable. I think Samsung missed a trick with their Galaxy Fold phone and made too many compromises.
Posted 25th Feb 2019 @ 09:13
U.K. Parliament report calls Facebook 'digital gangsters'
The article is now titled "As U.S. dithers on Facebook, Europe pounces". I fear that this is going to be one of the last times that the U.K. will be able to compile a report that has any sort of impact. Leaving the EU is going to reduce any influence we have and we'll probably be playing catch up or adopting the laws of the Union we 'voted' to leave:
Why it matters: U.S. regulators have fewer powers at their disposal and have moved more slowly than their European counterparts, leaving Europe to frame the debate over tech firms' privacy controversies, misinformation problems, and potential antitrust violations.
Large fines can't come soon enough. This is a damning statement from the report:
"Facebook has not provided us with one example of a business excluded from its platform because of serious data breaches," the report says. "We consider that data transfer for value is Facebook's business model and that Mark Zuckerberg's statement that 'we've never sold anyone's data' is simply untrue."
Posted 24th Feb 2019 @ 09:00
Instagram is an engagement powerhouse
I'm pretty stingy with my likes on all social platforms, but Instagram is by far the easiest on which to show so love (pun intended).
Axios ranked accounts by interactions and from the top 10 for both Twitter and Facebook, I follow 0. On Instagram, I only follow 1 of the top 10; The Rock. Quite proud of that.
Twitter is actually my preferred social network. For all it's ills I think being selective with who you follow and who you engage with is key to making the best use of it. As with anything you see online, you don't have to engage or reply. In fact engaging with those that deserved to be ignored doesn't help anyone.
And don't forget to look after your digital state of mind.
Posted 23rd Feb 2019 @ 15:00